These Were the Most Popular Car Colors in 2020–What's Next?
Lisa Steuer McArdle
· 4 min read
When buying a
new car
, color is an important aspect for many buyers. After all, painting any car
a new car color can be pricey. Since people keep the same car color, there has been deep analysis on how this affects resale value and maintenance costs.
Kelley Blue Book
(KBB) spearheaded such a report. Here's everything you need to know about the numbers behind the car colors.
Popular car colors
Most drivers prefer to blend in as opposed to standing out. This trend has impacted car colors. KBB points out that most car colors are some variation of white, black, gray, or silver. However, KBB predicts that this will change in the next few years.
"Dark seltzer" is expected to be the next most popular color. While this color sounds like a new beverage that would be marketed during football games, it is actually quite familiar. It could be described as a gray-silver that is reflective. It will be dark in cloudy weather, and a little bit brighter in the sunshine. Overall, it is a pretty neutral color that blends in well. This color is noted as providing "social camouflage" according to paintmaker
BASF
. "Redolent red" is also anticipated to gain popularity in the coming years. Red was only the sixth most popular color for 2020 sales figures, according to
Forbes
. Despite that, it is expected to explode in popularity. Red offers a nice balance between not being too boring or too showy. The third most popular car color of the near future will be "Abstraction blue." This car color is named after the famous Georgia O'Keeffe painting. Rest assured, this blue variation isn't a noisy color. It is a brighter blue, comparable with the familiar "sky blue."
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Car colors and vehicle types
Of course, different car types will have different color trends. KBB broke down all the numbers of popular colors amongst different vehicle types in 2020.
White was the most popular color for every category, except for convertibles and coupes. For these more sporty vehicles, black is the most popular color.
Throughout all vehicle types, we see that the traditional colors of white, black, gray, or silver remain popular. The exception to this is blue, which tends to be more popular in convertibles, coupes, luxury cars, and minivans.
Practical benefits of car color
MORE: Tips for Choosing the Perfect Car Color
While color does reflect the driver's personal taste to a certain degree, there are some practical results as well. For starters, color can influence the cost of touching up or repainting your car the same color.
Color will also impact resale value. Traditionally, white, black, gray, or silver were the best colors to pick when considering resale value. Based on KBB's reporting, it seems blue and red will be just as safe. A rule of thumb is that the more exotic the color, the more negative impact it will have on resale value.
KBB also notes that certain colors are safer than others. Generally speaking, lighter colors provide an added safety benefit since they are easier to see.
Additionally, unpopular colors also have safety benefits since they stand out and are more noticeable. The safest colors in order are white, yellow, orange, and gold. Black is the most dangerous, since it's harder to see at night.
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